SOFTWARE BOOM DELIVERS ANOTHER RECORD YEAR FOR TECHNOLOGYONE

TECHNOLOGYONE (ASX:TNE) has marked its 17th consecutive year of record revenues, backed by strong growth in its Software as a Service (SaaS) business.

The Brisbane-based enterprise software developer posted a 14 per cent lift in revenue to $249 million for full-year ending September 30.

The results also exceeded market guidance for profit growth of between 10 and 15 per cent, with net profit up 16 per cent at $41.3 million compared to a year earlier.

TechnologyOne executive chairman Adrian Di Marco says the company's cloud-first, mobile-first strategy continues to deliver strong results.

The SaaS business grew by more than 100 per cent for the second year in a row, while license fees also jumped by 14 per cent to $56 million.

"We've experienced huge growth in SaaS, with our largest wins in 2016 all coming from SaaS," Di Marco says.

"This growth is across all industries, from federal government to local government, education and financial services, which speaks volumes about the market shift towards a cloud-first, mobile-first world.

"Organisations are rapidly gaining a more sophisticated understanding of the difference between SaaS and cloud hosting, opting for the economies of scale and long-term strategic benefits only offered by SaaS."

New SaaS contracts for the year include several high-profile and large-scale enterprise clients, such as TAFE Queensland, La Trobe University, University of Dundee and Leicester City Council in the UK.

The company also had a strong focus on Research and Development (R&D) during the year, investing $46 million or 19 per cent of revenue.

"TechnologyOne's continuing success validates our strategy, vision and ongoing investment in R&D, as we continue to focus on building beautiful software that is incredibly simple and easy to use," Di Marco says.

The board has declared a second half dividend of 5.09c as well as a special dividend of 2c per share to be paid on December 14.

TechnologyOne shares were trading up 10.4 per cent at $5.85 each this afternoon.